The present school was founded on 10 May 1963.

 

The forerunner of Nigel High was the Klip School, so named because it was built on stone, which started round about 1894 when Nigel was a Mining Camp.  When Nigel became a Village Council, the first principal, Mr Diamone was appointed.

 

The Klip School eventually became a Junior High School – Grade 1 to Standard 8.  In 1948 the principal was Mr Kloppers and the Vice-principal was Mr Malherbe.  The Head prefects were Poppie Pretorius and Peter Raccine.

 

The School moved to the new buildings, where Hoërskool John Vorster is today in 1949. The senior class was Standard 9 and principal was Mr Kloppers and the Vice Principal was Mr Malherbe.  The Head prefects were once again - Poppie Pretorius and Peter Raccine.  In 1950 Nigel High had its first matric class and, you guessed it, Poppie and Peter were yet again Head Prefects.  The school was dual medium – English and Afrikaans.  At that time the school never had a hall. Every morning assembly started in the quad and the teachers stood on the balcony, which was between the Principal’s office and the Staff room.  Assemblies alternated between English and Afrikaans.  Every Wednesday a minister from a local church would take the service – again alternating one week English and one week Afrikaans.  The school uniform was bottle green as is Hoërskool John Vorster today.  In the summer, the girls wore green tunics, with white short- sleeve blouses.  In winter they wore the same tunics with white shirts and the green school tie.  They wore long grey socks with the green, orange, black and white stripes.  The boys wore grey trousers and white shirts.  The blazers were plain bottle green with the school badge on the pocket.

 

In 1951 Mr Kloppers retired and Mr L. Spruyt became the principal.

 

In 1952 a competition was held to design a school blazer with colours.  Mr Rossouw, an Afrikaans teacher, won the competition.  The blazer had a bottle green background with a broadish orange stripe and narrow black and white stripe on either side.  It was very striking. The badge on the Hoërskool John Vorster blazer is still the same as the one on the 1952 blazer.

 

In 1963 the English and Afrikaans speaking pupils parted company.  The English High School moved to the present premises of Nigel High School and Hoërskool John Vorster remained as the Afrikaans High School.  Nigel High School was built with a hostel that can accommodate 130 boarders (80 girls and 50 boys).

 

Mr L Spruyt was the first Principal of Nigel High School and was in office until 1966. 

 

Mr C Combrinck became the principal from 1967 to 1981 when he passed away suddenly.  Ms J. Cameron, the Vice Principal, was the acting Principal until 1982 when Mr G. Jordaan became the Principal.  Mr Jordaan retired at the end of the second term of 1994 after 12 years as Principal.

 

Ms B MacDonald was appointed the Principal from the third term in 1994 and continued until July 2010 when she retired.  Mrs I. Dolinschek was appointed Acting Principal until January 2011 when she was officially appointed Principal.

 

In 1998 the geometric shape of the swallow was changed to a life-like shape which readily identified as a swallow.  The shape of the shield was also altered.  This was done with the help of the Deputy Head Girl, Sheena McGeoch, a Std 10 Art learner.  The changes were made keeping the traditions and ethos of the school in mind.  Sheena also assisted in designing a new letterhead which has a watermark depicting a whole flock of swallows flying onwards and upwards “to the highest”.

 

Around this period two of the school houses, Arcadians and Olympians, were disbanded and 4 new houses emerged to accommodate the growing school – Swifts, Swallows, Plovers and Loeries (Residence learners).

 

From the early 1990’s the school had approximately 250 learners and 14 staff including the Principal.  Today we boast just on a 1000 learners and approximately 43 educators and 7 administration staff.

 

1998 saw the opening of the first computer centre under the leadership of Deputy Principal Mr D.Thomas.  This centre moved to the top story of the Economic and Management Sciences stairwell in 2001.  In 2005 the Centre became the venue for CAT (Computer Assisted Technology).

 

2002 saw the introduction of Hotel keeping and Catering.  The Domestic Science classrooms were renovated into a restaurant and in 2008 the kitchen was upgraded.  This is an exciting learning area were learners are given “hands-on” experience in the Hospitality Industry.  In 2008 Bruno da Silva Gomes won the International Hotel School “Ticket to Life” Bursary Competition valued at R125 000.

 

In 2012 Khotso Mokoena, a past pupil of Nigel High School, became a Silver Medalist at the London Olympics.

 

In 2009 the colours badges were introduced – blue for school colours and scrolls given also became blue, full colours – yellow and then Honours – gold.

 

An Honours Blazer was also introduced – a powder blue blazer for learners achieving the “highest” of all levels in Sport and Culture.  The Head Boys and Head Girls are entitled to wear this blazer as well.

 

Certain quads at the school have been named after past principals – quads are yet to be named after the last two principals.  In February 2015 the Hostel was renamed Potso Mohajane Residence, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

 

There are so many highlights and successes of the school – too many to mention.  Many past learners have had tremendous success in all aspects of the Corporate, Business, Hospitality, Arts, etc in South Africa and abroad.